1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for implementing a complete SAP pre-configured system landscape in one step, and more particularly to a method and system for implementing a complete SAP system landscape in one day, using only standard i5/OS system administration knowledge.
2. Description of the Related Art
SAP software is commonly implemented in many different types of business environments. In order to use SAP's software productively, the implementers have to go through many steps of planning, preparation, deployment, post-installation, configuration and customization. Today's software consists of many units that have to be installed and updated separately. As systems have become integrated, software is no longer standalone, but part of a bigger system landscape.
In the case of implementing SAP on IBM System i, both i5/OS and SAP system landscape knowledge are necessary. This skill is not very widespread in many parts of the world. Installation and patching of the operating system, database, and SAP application software takes several weeks before the system can be used productively. The process is fragile and error-prone. All implementation work for the operating system and database on IBM System i is usually done by an IBM System i system administrator. After that, a SAP on IBM System i certified consultant implements the desired SAP system landscape and configures the system according to the customer's needs.
The installation process for SAP on IBM System i for the current release—SAP ERP 2005, SAP ECC 6.0, SAP NetWeaver 7.0—requires intimate knowledge of the necessary tools to implement the system. The standard installation for SAP systems is based on the SAP-owned tool “SAPinst”. As IBM System i provides no graphical user interface, SAPinst, in its version for SAP ERP 2005, cannot run directly on IBM System i, but requires a helper tool, TMKSVR. For IBM System i, SAPinst has been adjusted to use a client-server architecture, where SAPinst sends requests to the TMKSVR and the TMKSVR then forwards those requests to the System i host.
The procedure has to be repeated once per SAP system that has to be installed in the system landscape. SAP recommends a minimum system landscape of three SAP systems per product: a development system to implement changes, a quality assurance system to control and test the changes, and a productive system where end users work on. In addition, for support reasons, SAP has made an additional, separate SAP Solution Manager system mandatory. FIG. 1 shows the SAP system landscape as recommended by SAP.
Another exemplary concern of implementing SAP on IBM system i regards disk imaging. Creating complete disk images of all hard drives of a computer is a common backup procedure. IBM i5/OS provides several save and restore-related procedures in its GO SAVE and GO RESTORE menus.
However, the SAP Best Practices development team provides an image containing one SAP system—as opposed to a complete system landscape—with one specific pre-configured SAP Best Practice package for demo purposes. Value-added resellers (hereinafter “VARs”) have no influence on this image. That is, VARs knowledge about the customers of their region or industry is not used.
The Demo Image is only available to customers that already run SAP on Microsoft SQL Server for licensing reasons. Images containing SAP software are typically only available for Windows or Unix-based operating systems. The object-based architecture, integrated database, and binary incompatibility prevent the image content to be executed on IBM System i.
In addition, images are usually provided containing only one standalone system to be set up for demonstration purposes, to explain features of the SAP applications or to explore their functional scope, but not for productive use. Further, as the systems are prepared for demo purposes, they are not set up for a certain market or target group. For example, they usually only contain the English language.